Learn Portuguese through the best online masterclass that I personally use myself : https://www.portuguesewithanita.com/a/2147527860/DFvGmeqS
Hello I’m some guy named Dave in Portugal.
I absolutely love living in Portugal but today we are going to discuss some of the main reasons why I don’t think it works for most Americans!
If you’re interested in more videos about Portugal, subscribe to this channel and follow my journey!
-Dave
To Support Dave:
https://www.patreon.com/daveinportugal
31 Comments
I concur with the other Americans living in Portugal. We moved to central Portugal 2.5 years ago, into a 400 year old stone manor house. Real estate is the wild west and there are many unethical agents. Also it is exceedingly difficult to find builders and tradesmen. We have found some good ones but a project still takes a long time. They are very busy and spread very thinly. We are getting used to these things. Patience is often un American. Slow is one thing but getting ghosted is another level. Just tell me you can't do the job, or that it will be next year. Don't say you can do it, spend one day starting, and then disappear for 9 months. I don't get that, and Portuguese don't either. They just shrug, esta vida, for the most part. It is even harder with the language challenges. Coordinating the carpenter and the electrician, for example. They talk with each other but STILL there is miscommunication. But the positives far outweigh the negatives.
very accurate and well articulated. Thanks!
I love how all these channels are about 1st world problems. And the crowd they attract (people interesting in moving to Portugal, obviously). Zero problem of having anyone from ANY part of the world or cultural and economical background here in Portugal, as a portuguese, but I do have to chuckle at all the yuppies' idea of a good country. It's precisely the kind of person I find nothing in common with, in my own generation. It's the people who love gentrifying the world; who see themselves primarly as costumers and business people rather than human beings. Anyway, no shade….but it's just funny a bit of a big circus to me.
My husband and I retired to Portugal from the US in April of this year. We love the slower pace. We currently rent in Lisbon because of the central location. We have been able to travel to the north and south to try to figure out where we will end up. We love the food, the Portuguese people and lifestyle here.
Incredible episode…honest and realistic. Entrepreneurship is the key to success and the average YouTubers don’t address that reality which eliminates 80% of the people (I would imagine) due to their wanting to retire and not work …
"So American" : "Oh my god!" … "I am super excited" … " I feel so offended" … "it's amazing" … and a few others… LOL
What I like about your vlogs is that usually you're on point, contrary to many other vloggers. I'm fully fluent in Portuguese with no foreign accent (not Brazilian) and had my negative experiences with real estate agents in Portugal, in person. For example, in Algarve, I was clear I wanted a property ready to move in, no construction. The nice agent took me to a two bedroom house with a 1920's bathroom in the pateo, which had crawlers and vegetation coming out of the walls. It was a complete gut job except for the front, which had to be kept to maintain the character of the street. And he asked for 550 thousand euros… another one I offered 300 thousand euros (no financing, just bank transfer) for a house that needed some aesthetic repairs. She wanted 375. She sold it to a Russian for 210 thousand because that is all the bank would give the Russian.
South of Lisbon, in the district of Setubal, you'll find beautiful beaches and some with warmer waters such as Arrabida.
'Nao' is the first phase to getting to 'sim.' It's in line with: 'not right now but let us talk about.' Brazilien say 'pois nao' meaning 'of course yes.' Being direct is part of the culture. When someone asks you 'how are you' they really want to know; contrary to the US, where people ask 'how are you' instead of saying 'hi.'
Off topic question: do you know how taxation works? I was told that if you live in Portugal and your income is from the US, you have to pay income tax in the US and then pay 42% of your gross income to Portugal. Do you know if this is true?
I would agree with you on every point, Dave. Especially on the slow pace of things and real estate agents… lack of professionalism and customer service. But I am noticing things improving in my neck of the woods and I see the lack of interest and new ideas as an opportunity. I’ve seen some of my ideas materialize after sharing the idea with locals. But they were a hard “no” when I first introduced the idea.
Both my parents are Portuguese, I was born in the US made my life there and then moved to Portugal; semi-retired. I love it here. That said, I’m going on 7 years and still waiting for my Portuguese nationality to be approved. Not cool. 🫣
I´m glad. go away from our country, we don´t need North Americans, we don´t need Dollars. if we let US people to come in you will just destroy our country with your greed and luxury sickness.
Yes, Portugal is a horrible place. It's not worth it. You can go and inflate the housing market elsewhere😅
Great video and you hit a few good nails on the head. The two major things you did not cover, the full on corruption and the paperwork for some things being OTT.
I agree with his views; early in the video, it suggests that Spain and Italy offer more, as they are considerably bigger countries (more cities, more places to see). Nevertheless, their offerings and problems are very similar to Portugal. By the end, he referred to southern Europe, which was spot on. Some comments from supposedly Portuguese individuals seem outdated with Portugal of the last decade. As someone mentions, wherever you go, there are tradeoffs; you cannot just cherry-pick what you like. And by the way, some places in the US are equally bad and even worse in some areas. (safety, beggars, etc..)
Great video. I believe if you want to move to Portugal, you have to be in the proper mindset. This video does a great job of explaining that. If you're expecting Disneyland, probably it's best you just spend your money going to Disneyland. Chances are, you may be disappointed there too…
Não te chames de estúpido só porque achamos que os americanos são estúpidos na generalidade, Dave. Fico muito contente por ver boas pessoas inteligentes como tu a chegar a Portugal. Abraço!
Customer service is terrible in PT? What..? Don't get me wrong, I don't live there, but I spent every summer of my life going there and I have no idea where you get this impression that customer service is terrible. It's always incredibly fast, accurate, and they don't expect a tip.
I’m not American, but i can relate and agree with most of the things you just point out.
Specially the “Snail-Pace Life” for me who was born in Brasil and is used to sort things out pretty quickly like the Americans, i sometimes get nuts about how slow and bureaucratic things can be here in Portugal.
There are good points too but as i said, for people like me who is used to sort things out ASAP its pretty frustrate sometimes…
I think that's why it's so attractive about Portugal, laid back, kind, helpful, relaxed people, respectful. The simple life is wonderful. From BC Canada
Bro, if you dont like it, you can leave. Simple.
stupid american? nahhh … lol i like to see your videos young man 😉
If you like biking you should check ecopistas. They are old train tracks transformed for biking and walking. Examples: ecopista do Vouga and ecopista do Dão.
Dave, long time watcher, first time commenter. My family and I just moved to Tavira a week ago. We are from the US, but one of the things we notice is that, since we are from the southern states, South Carolina specifically, and from a region called the LowCountry, but colloquially also known as the “SlowCountry”, the difficulty and slowness of getting things done here in Portugal hasn’t been any different than what we were used to back in the American South. Sometimes actually better here frankly. I guess it is all perspective. We are very happy so far, but that I think is due in large part to great content creators like yourself allowing us to have a true realistic view of what to expect. Keep it up. Will definitely get you a Sagres or Super Bock if we ever meet or you are down here in Tavira.
Otimo vídeo, bastante realista e honesto. Congrats!
Hi Dave, I´ve moved here from SoCal over 10 years ago. I agree with you that Iberian Portuguese sounds like Russian! That´s exactly what I thought when I first came here. I was a fluent Spanish speaker when I arrived here.I had quite the learning curve training my ear and that´s with the experience of learning four other languages. In terms of cycling in Portugal: I will not because the majority of the drivers are disrespectful from my experience (high speed, tailgating, overtaking other cars around blind corners and endandering others). From my experience, most of this "style" of driving is happening in the large cities like Lisbon and Porto but also on the main motorways. The countryside is more relaxed but there are still a few psycho drivers who seem to think they are the only one on the rode. As an American moving to Portugal, customers service levels in Portugal are a complete shock. It´s improving but you´re right, there will be people that will tell you off and be completely rude. "Customer service" for some doesn´t exist in their awareness or vocabulary. Having said all that I still struggle with the sh** customer service experiences and the journey of finding quality service professionals. It´s also a slow pace, but I can fix that by traveling elsewhere. In terms of mindset and the optimism level. I would agree there is lots of pessimism and the "that´s impossible" but if you look hard enough you will find Portuguese that have an appreciation for change, innovation and quality just like many Americans. Every place has its pros and cons. I want to end all of this by emphasizing the things I love about living in Portugal.
For the taxes I pay, I actually get something for it. Decent public health care. It's not perfect but it saved my life from a life threatening illness. The quality of food and wine is high. You can eat organic (bio) and not break the bank. Geographically, at least where I live…there is a lot to enjoy. It feels like an uncrowded California with access to surfing, mountain biking, hiking, kitesurfing, wine tasting and more! The amount of sunshine is excellent. The cost of living although rising like the rest of the world is relatively affordable outside of the major cities like Lisbon and Porto (Where the rents and inflation have skyrocketed).
Give me a ping when you´re in Sintra!
Good job, Dave. I'm brazilian and I am moving to Portugal next month so I've been watching a lot of videos about Portugal over the last months. I'm sure I will also suffer some sort of "cultural shock," but not as much as an American.
Although language differences may be a minor problem, getting used to the local habits may take a while. But it would be the same if I moved from a big metro area to a small countryside town in Brazil or for an American also doing the same within the US.
I think anyone moving to another town or country must understand that they are the "intruders" and must respect local culture and habits and try to fit in.
As a Portuguese living overseas, I can totally relate to much of what you're describing in this video. We need more individuals like you who share these experiences and contribute to making Portugal an even better place. Keep up the excellent work! I'll keep watching and supporting your videos 🙂
I'm Portuguese born in Mozambique. Lived in Africa for 53 years.
Now living in Portugal for 12 years. After Johannesburg, SA I'm enjoying the laid back pace and relative peace. I don't need to look over my shoulder constantly to see if I'm been targeted as a potential victim of crime.
In South Africa, I lived under constant threat and high levels of stress & PTSD
I was told that it is illegal to leave bad reviews….something about PT defamation laws. In a grp someone relayed their experience with construction ppl and builders who took money, showed up for a few weeks but then didnt show up again and ghosted the ppl. Ppl asked for the name of the company so they could avoid them…grp admin would not allow OP to tell name stating due to defamation laws in PT..it's illegal to leave bad reviews. Is this true?
You can't compare apples to pears. Portugal is still a developing country and really can't be compared to the States.
My mom taight me "When in Rome, do like the Romans". Just saying
That story about the real estate agents doesn't surprise me at all. The high demand for accommodation makes agents extremely competitive even within their own teams. Agents are thirsty to make the sale and get their cut of the deal. Most likely what happened was her colleague got ahold of her emails at the office and took advantage of the situation by contacting you directly. When confronted, he probably blamed it on you 😀
Só Super Bock Dave.😂